Barnardo's publish report on how to break cycle of child abuse

Barnardo's launched a report yesterday outlining how it succeeds to help children in trouble with the law where the government fails.

The report was launched at an event marking a rerun of Barnardo's successful Break The Cycle television adverts, which will be screened after 9pm until 4 July. The adverts previously ran for four weeks in December last year and were the first television adverts Barnardo's had run.

Barnardo's chief executive Martin Narey said: "Many children find themselves in a vicious cycle of neglect and abuse, underachievement, exclusion from school, and involvement in drugs and crime.

"We can and must work to break the cycle at all stages - by helping at an early age, by working with children and young people on the edges of crime and by intervening with those already offending. "The costs of failing to help are, particularly in the case of those children who end up in custody, spectacularly expensive while being largely unsuccessful in reducing criminality."

The charity claims that if the government invested in troubled children earlier it could cut youth crime and save the taxpayer millions. Barnardo's has calculated that should just one in ten children sentenced to custody have received effective help, savings to the public purse could be more than £100 million.

More than 80 per cent of children released from custody will re-offend again within a year. Barnardo's offers training ranging from hairdressing and catering skills to mechanics and parenting classes. Their projects run largely for children who have been in trouble and have had to leave other schools and colleges.

To download a copy of Barnardo's report, Break The Cycle, click here.